i'll have to get me one of those

for the first time ever, i attempted to do my own taxes this year. my dad has always done them for me without complaint, but he waits until the last possible second and i wanted my money back sooner. plus, with my impending entrance into the 'real' world, i need to figure these types of things out for myself. so i downloaded my 1040EZ, gathered my W-2 and a pencil and filled in the little boxes. i've never claimed to be a mathematical genius, but this whole process only involves three little numbers so i figured i could handle some addition and subtraction. besides, i've taken the GRE and you do all of that without a calculator.

so i did the math, and discovered i owed $350. no way that's possible. two years ago my return was $700+, last year it was $350. there's no way it could change that much over the course of one year. double-checked my math. triple-checked my math. took it to work and had a coworker look it over. i was gonna have to come up with an extra $350, which means i was gonna have to borrow it from my parents. so i email dad, give him my info and let him do his magic. apparently he has some software program that changes payments into refunds, cause now i'm getting a $280 return. (read: i am kidding. we do not cheat on our taxes, never have and never would. if you work for the IRS, please don't audit me. i wouldn't know where to begin.)

so yeah, looks like i will be needing a husband after all. just for tax purposes and offspring.